There were nearly seven crore people with diabetes in India in 2015, Rajya Sabha was informed said today.
"As per the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the estimated cases of diabetes in India in the age group of 20-70 years were 6.68 crore and 6.91 crore in 2014 and 2015 respectively, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
In another reply, he said that an article published in Lancet medical Journal said India is among the top three countries in the world with high diabetic population.
It has also been stated therein that the prevalence of diabetes has increased by 80 per cent among women in India between 1980 to 2014, Nadda said.
He said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has undertaken a large-scale epidemiological study on task force projects on diabetes "ICMR - India Diabetes Study (ICMR INDIAB)" which looked at the prevalence of diabetes in different states.
Nadda said the central government is implementing National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) for interventions up to district level under the National Health Mission.
NPCDCS has focused on awareness generation for behavior and life-style changes, screening and early diagnosis of persons with high level of risk factors and their treatment and referral to higher facilities for appropriate management for non-communicable diseases including diabetes.
"As per Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2016 budget speech, there is a proposal for increase of excise duty on aerated waters, containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured from 18 per cent to 21 per cent," he said.
Replying to another question, he said that according to ICMR, earlier, top three countries in the world for diabetes prevalence were India, China and USA.
But, for the past few years, China has overtaken India. As per International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas (7th Edition), China has the largest number of cases of diabetes (109.6 million) followed by India (69.1 million) and the US (29.3 million) in 2015.
